Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at Cohen Children’s Medical Center

Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at Cohen Children’s Medical Center

About us

The pediatric cardiology fellowship program at Cohen Children's Medical Center is an ACGME-accredited, three-year training program. The program utilizes the clinical and research resources of North Shore-LIJ Health System and its many affiliated tertiary and primary care hospitals, including the Feinstein Institute of Research.

The clinical exposure to pediatric cardiology encompasses a broad spectrum of practice involving primary care pediatric cardiology to complex congenital and acquired heart disease in patients ranging in age from the fetus through adulthood. With hospitals on Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and Westchester, fellows provide care to a large and diverse population. They have the opportunity to rotate through all health system hospitals, which accounts for more than 20,000 live births per year. Trainees participate in:.

200 pediatric cardiothoracic surgery cases

more than 200 pediatric cardiac catheterizations

100 cardiac electrophysiology procedures

9500 pediatric transthoracic echocardiograms

1700 fetal echocardiograms, and

proportionate numbers of invasive and noninvasive procedures annually

Fifteen pediatric cardiology faculty members provide fellows with the clinical, didactic, and research guidance necessary for comprehensive training in all aspects of pediatric.

Curriculum & schedule

Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
The pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory is a state-of-the-art, biplane, digital facility dedicated to bring cutting edge care with minimal radiation exposure to children and patients with congenital heart disease. The lab is staffed with dedicated pediatric cardiac nurses, cardiovascular technologists and special procedure technologists. Fellows participate in all diagnostic as well as interventional and electrophysiology procedures under the supervision of three full-time pediatric interventional/EP faculty members.

Fellows have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of interventional procedures, including transcatheter valve placement, valve and vascular angioplasty, endovascular stent implantation, transcatheter atrial septal closure, ductal occlusion, and endomyocardial biopsies. They will also be involved in the performance of a variety of diagnostic electrophysiology studies for arrhythmia diagnosis and sudden death risk stratification, as well as curative interventions including radiofrequency and cryocatheter ablation aided by conventional and three-dimensional non-fluoroscopic mapping units.

Echocardiography Laboratory
Approximately 11,000 echocardiograms are performed annually in the pediatric echocardiography laboratory. Our echocardiography laboratory is fully accredited by ICAEL for pediatric echocardiography. It is staffed by 11 pediatric cardiac sonographers with 11 dedicated digital echocardiography imaging systems. Our laboratory has the most up to date hardware and software, including 3-dimensional echocardiography and the recent addition of 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography. Over 1700 fetal echocardiograms are performed annually within the Division of Pediatric Cardiology. Care of at risk fetuses is coordinated with the Divisions of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Neonatology.

The pediatric cardiology fellows and faculty provide all intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography services as well as echocardiographic guidance for interventional procedures in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. All echocardiographic exams are recorded in digital format with review stations that permit point and click reporting and facilitate didactic instruction. Fellows acquire and interpret echocardiographic studies, under faculty supervision, during "non-invasive" rotations and when on call.

Exercise Laboratory
The pediatric exercise laboratory, staffed by a dedicated pediatric cardiovascular technologist, contains a Welch Allyn unit for real-time ECG analysis, MedGraphic system for breath by breath gas analysis for quantification of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, and a bicycle ergometry unit. Fellows perform and report on exercise tests during their "non-invasive" rotation.

Ambulatory Services
More than 11,000 ambulatory pediatric cardiology visits are conducted annually at Cohen Children's, in addition to multiple dedicated pediatric cardiology satellite offices. Fellows' weekly ambulatory office hours provide continuity of care of a cadre of patients throughout the fellowship under the supervision of a mentoring attending.